National Institute of Traumatology & Orthopaedic Rehabilitaion (NITOR)

History: NITOR is the fruit of liberation war. With the war of liberation, the new nation of Bangladesh was left with a great number of war injured . Although a few of the freedom fighters from among the wounded were taken by foreign countries for treatment, the great bulk of the wounded including the civilians had to be taken care of by the new nation itself. The Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibar Rahman take a great initiative to rehabilitate the injured freedom fighters. In February 1972, Prof. R.J. Garst, American Orthopaedic Surgeon, Specialist in the field of Rehabilitation along with his wife Marie M. Garst visited Bangladesh and assessed the problem as a whole and decided to go ahead towards its solution. Patronized by the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibar Rahman, Dr. Garst planned to establish an orthopaedic hospital to accommodate all the war affected in one place which the government gladly agreed. Within three month of his arrival his relentless effort lead to the establishment of the hospital, which was then popularly known as Mukti Bahini Hospital. In May 1972 the out patient building of the Shaheed Suhrawardy Hospital was converted into an inpatient hospital with necessary modification and alteration. This was the establishment of independent trauma management unit in Bangladesh and sowing of the seed of an orthopedic specialty. On 5 January 1973 the faculty of medicine of Dhaka University acted on suggestion and appointed a committee to inspect the Shahid Suhrawardy hospital as an acceptable place for establishing a post graduate course in orthopaedic. Prof. R.J. Grast realized the need for the hospital having its own building and approached the authority concern, the results of which is the present hospital complex and was shifted to this new site in early 1978. This is the biggest orthopaedic hospital in the south Asia having 500 beds. It was then named Rehabilitation institute and hospital for the disabled (RIHD). In 1974 the NEC of Bangladesh approved the plans of RIHD and Dr. R.J. Garst was honored with the post of Project Director of the proposed hospital complex.